1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle roof molding having a slide plate for opening and closing an opening.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-196520, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, an opening was provided in a roof molding attached to the roof of an automobile or other vehicle, and mounting parts for attaching rooftop parts such as roof rails, roof ski rack or roof luggage carrier were known to be fastened by insertion into the opening. The opening was covered by a suitable cover (e.g., cap) in the case of not attaching rooftop parts to the roof.
Known examples of covers for covering the opening of a roof molding included a cover having a window that is formed continuous with the opening and a slide plate that opens and closes the window. According to this type of cover, by opening the window by sliding the slide plate, rooftop parts can be attached without having to remove the cover (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3318046, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 7-329654).
In the case of the aforementioned sliding cover, extraneous costs are incurred as a result of being composed of two parts consisting of a cover having a window (cover body) and a slide plate.
In addition, together with a level difference being formed between the edges of the opening of the molding and the cover body, a level difference is also formed between the plate body and the slide plate, and these two level differences result in an unattractive appearance.
Although hook-shaped (groove-shaped) guides are provided opening towards the inside in both sides in the widthwise direction of the cover body, when molding the cover body by injection molding and so forth, since the groove sections of the guides are undercut, a slide type is required for the metal mold that forms them, thereby resulting in higher metal mold costs.
Since the aforementioned guides are provided on both sides in the widthwise direction of the window, the opening width of the window is wide and difficult to handle. Consequently, when bolts and so forth are inserted into the window, the bolts end up contacting the edges of the opening, thereby possibly damaging the molding or chassis and so forth.
A locking plate provided near one end of the window in the lengthwise direction has a gap into which the slide plate can be inserted between the locking plate and the cover body, and since the peripheral guides obstruct the formation of this gap, the locking plate and cover body cannot be integrally molded. Thus, a separately molded locking plate must be attached to the cover body, thereby resulting in increased costs.
Since the slide plate employs a structure in which it is hidden behind the cover body when the window is opened, the size of the opening of the roof molding is required to be at least twice the size of the window required for attaching rooftop parts (e.g., roof rails). Consequently, as a result of a large opening being formed in the roof molding, there is insufficient rigidity thereby resulting in the risk of breakage in the vicinity of the opening when the roof molding is installed.
In addition, since the length of the cover body becomes long, there is the risk of it becoming detached from the opening due to thermal contraction in the lengthwise direction. In the cover described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 7-329654, one end of the cover body is fused to the molding, and the other end engages with the edge of the opening. However, since both the structure and production process are complex, costs ends up increasing.